I was looking at various crankshafts for the 2.0. I noticed that some have type I and some have type IV rod journals. Is there any benifit from running the type IV journal?

I have noted that type I rod journal cranks seem to be substantially cheaper. The rods seem to be substantially cheaper as well.

My intent for the engine is to build a 2.0 race engine for my 72. I figure If there is no structural benifit from running the type IV rod journals I might as well save a few bucks.

thanks in advance for your responses.

You can get better bearings for the type 1 journals. I have a 2.0L crank with 2" chevy journals. Its for sale.

The only "Race quality" rod bearings in existence for the 2.0 journal are one of our developments.. They are stronger than a stock bi-metal bearing and are more resistant to wear, BUT the journal diameter is still almost .100 smaller than the TI.

I prefer the TI journal due to bearing strength as well as crank strength, especially with stroker engines. A 2.165" TI rod journal makes for a much more rigid crank more resistant to flex because of the added journal overlap of the larger diameter journal.

The other key is the selection of rods available for the TI journal. There are only a few choices for rods that use the 2 liter journal and 3 of these are Carrillo, Pauter and our RAT/LN billet rods, all costing between 850-1500 bucks as custom parts. There is one 400.00 offering that is made overseas, but it has marginal quality off the shelf and they don't even come with the rod caps or bearings installed.

The TI journal has several low cost, exceptionally strong connecting rod options that are all longer, lighter and stronger than the stock 2.0 rod.

Remember: Trying to save a dollar is the quickest way to spend three... This selection will impact the entire engine design and will greatly impact assembly in pretty much every way.

Read, study and ask questions for WEEKS before buying these parts, its pretty easy to make a critical mistake that will impact the engine and waste your money, creating a compromise.

Engine projects that begin with compromise will end in compromise.

Hey thanks for chiming in Jake. It was actually your light weight 2.0 crank with TI rod journals I was looking at. I was also thinking to matching it up with a set of your H beam rods.

along with a set of 94 mm barrels with some JE pistions. There is a local Head guy/ miracle worker that I am going to have do the heads though...

Your LE heads have me in a bit of a delima though I have to admit. The local guy takes forever to get the parts back to you and costs a small fortune but is the mega flow guru along with welding and reshaping combustion chambers...

I was going to ask you how your h beam rods stack up against carillos.

Personally... if you're buying new jugs and slugs, go with 96mm.

No can do. I can understand your point but I am restricted to 2.0 for the run groups I am building for. I want to run the car in the HSR West 2.0 challenge, Vara 2.0 challenge, and PCA GT5s.

I dont expect to build a winning car but I would like to at least be able to dice it up mid pack.

You should look into my engine kits, IF you want to do this the right way and as simple as possible.

I have a 2 liter race kit that isn't listed on my site, I can do this two different ways to get you 2,000cc and according to the rules I may have more possibilities. All these are rated between 180-205HP, all use LE 200 heads.

As far as heads go, there is currently no offerings from any competitor that parallel our LE heads in net flow along with overall performance. The CNC ports and chambers of the LE 200 heads outperform most every head, even some that have 6-8mm larger intake valves.

We are able to make 200CFM while only using a 44mm intake valve, keeping the valvetrain lighter and easier to control with less spring tension required.

All the LE heads have super high velocity ports that don't just have great flow characteristics but also excellent port velocity and thats the secret to the big torque and usable power that wins races and enhances drive-ability on the street.

On the topic of rods:
Our standard H beam rods that sell for 300.00 +/- don't stack up against Carrillos very well, and they shouldn't due to their price and the fact that they are made overseas. They are low cost options that we have put 400 Turbo HP through without issue, though.

Our LN/RAT rods are all I use in my 200 +HP engines and all race engines, I no longer use Carrillo rods. Of course, its open to personal opinion but Charles and I feel that these rods are superior to Carrillo as we have several designs that use the newest technology and the best rod bolts offered by ARP, the same rod bolts used in top fuel dragsters.

We have an H beam and an I beam design for high revvers and lower revving boosted engines alike and rod journals from Chevy to Buick, Honda, Type 1 and 2 liter TIV are available. Last year, one of our racers missed a shift and went from 4th gear to second gear while shifting at 8,000 RPM, the engine went past 10,000 RPM, it was so violent that the lifter bores exploded. Upon tear down the rods were removed and sent to LN for magnaflux and resizing/ new bolt installation as we figured they had to have stretched- nope, they needed nothing.

If you'd like more info, come over to my forums or send me a PM.

With a race engine there are two things you can't skimp on
1-Connecting rods
2- valvetrain/cylinder heads

To talk about your original question.

The market for the Type 1 is alot more mature than the Type4.

So, if you switch to type 1 rod journals, you get loads more choices in rods and bearings that have years of testing and years of winning.

Look at what Twysted has been testing using the 356 lifters...It reduces the weight of the valve train in one area and it seems to be catching on in the industry.

Rich

Thanks for all the responses. It looks like the TI rod journal is the way to go.